Keeping Busy



Wow...I can't believe how quickly the time has gone since Halloween.  We've been busy getting ready for Christmas, suffering from colds other illnesses, and doing lots of crafts.  Junie's appointment with the pediatric rheumatologist went well.  He ruled out arthritis and instead says she has a Periodic Fever Syndome, which she will grow out of.  Whew.  I have healed quite well following my hysterectomy, which was on November 7.  John's mom came to stay with us for a week to help out with the girls, and we couldn't have done it without her. 

The girls' annual visit to see Santa went really well.  I kept asking Cosette in the days leading up to it if she was going to cry again when she saw Santa.  She kept telling me, "Yes, I will cry.  But I be okay."  Well, she didn't cry, but when we first got to him, she would talk to him but wouldn't sit on his lap for a photo.  I told her to try sitting on his knee and if she didn't like it she could jump down.  Well, once she got on his lap she just kept talking to him and telling him what she wants.  Junie's requests were "a puppy in a purse with a doctor kit to play vet" and a train table.  Cosette told Santa she wants "a puppy in a purse with a doctor kit like June, a train table, and a dolly with clothes to dress her up in."  Since our visit, she has revised her list to also include a particular dump truck.  If we ask her now what she's hoping for the most, she says:  "That rumblin', shakin' dump truck to carry around my babies." 

Junie's brought home all kinds of cruddy germs from preschool this year, and the girls and I seem to be battling some illness every week.  It's tiresome, but I know it's just part of life with a germy preschooler. 

Our visits to the library still seem to be the center of the week for the girls.  They love playing for a while and then choosing a zillion books.  Junie is very fascinated by all things scientific about the natural world right now, particularly bones, dinosaurs, extinction, and ocean life.  Cosette chooses Halloween books and books about trucks, fire engines, and trains.  They both love Mo Willems'  Piggie and Gerald books and his Pigeon books.  They laugh hysterically no matter how many times we check these books out. 

Check out the photos for more news on what the kids have been up to.

Halloween 2011

The girls talk about Halloween all year long.  They love this holiday! 

Junie dressed as a witch, just as she said she would on November 1^st of last year.  Cosette dressed as a ladybug.  She changed her mind many times before settling on the ladybug costume.  We started Halloween off at the local fire station, where the firefighters host a party for the kids.  They each got a bag full of about a half pound of candy each…there were also toothbrushes and floss included with the candy.  Our girls love brushing and flossing possibly as much as they love candy, so this tickled them pink. 

Then we went trick-or-treating.  The girls loved ringing doorbells and took turns doing so.  They were good about saying “trick-or-treat” and “thank you,” but Cosette couldn’t thank the people without also bursting out, “We go to another house now!”  After the very first house, she looked into her bag, grinned and said in a surprised voice, “I got candy!!  That lady gave me candy!!”  It was the moment when she finally realized what this whole holiday was all about.  She also was Little Miss Captain Obvious and starting saying hilarious things to people.  One man opened the door and as he put candy in the girls’ bags Cosette immediately noticed that his jeans had holes at the knees.  She pointed at his jeans and burst out, “You have BIG holes in your pants!”  At another house, a teenager answered the door in her volleyball uniform, so she was wearing really short shorts.  Cosette didn’t say “trick-or-treat.”  Instead she pointed and said, “You have nakey legs!  That’s funny!!”  At one house, a dog barked from the garage as we approached, and when a woman answered the door Cosette said, “You have a mean wolf in your house!”  She was quite the little character.  Junie couldn’t wait to eat her candy.  She asked us about 800 times if she could eat some! 

Junie had her Halloween party at school on Tuesday so she got to wear her costume again.  She’d been talking for weeks about this because she could hardly wait to see what her teachers would dress up as!  Ms. Jill was a black cat, Ms. Stacey was Princess Leia, Ms. Lindsay was a garden gnome, and Mr. Kevin was a superhero.  Junie continues to adore her teachers and has so much fun at school.  Cosette insisted on wearing her costume to drop-off and pick-up Junie, so she could show Ms. Jill her costume!  Everyone was so nice to make a fuss over her about how cute she looked!   

The girls have already planned out what they want to be next year.  Junie wants to be a cowgirl (or as she says, a “girl cowboy”) and Cosette wants to be a fairy.  We’ll see how many times they change their minds before next Halloween.   

My surgery is Monday and I am remarkably calm about it.  I’ve been spending much of my time stressing over Junie’s health problems.  Her fever spikes are back, as are some of her other odd symptoms, and her blood tests indicate some type of rheumatological issue.  We see a specialist here on December 8^th, but our pediatrician is trying to get us an appointment at the University of Michigan because we might be able to get in there sooner.  It’s all quite stressful.  We’d just like a diagnosis so we can get Junie on the road to better health.  Fingers crossed for an appointment soon, but it doesn’t look likely. 

The October 2011 album on the right has some more Halloween photos, as well as some other cute ones. 

Recent conversations in our house:

Cosette:  Daddy, what's for dinner?
John:  Chicken, rice, and corn.
Junie:  Yuck!  I want ice cream!
Cosette:  Yay!  I want chicken, rice, and corn!

***

The girls were pouring over a toy catalog that came in the mail and they kept interrupting my cleaning chores to ask me to read toy descriptions.  I finally asked them to wait until I was done and then I'd read them all to them.  Then I overheard this:

Cosette:  What's that toy?  I want that from Santa.
Junie:  That's too big for Santa's sleigh.
Cosette:  What is it?  What do the words say about it?
Junie:  I don't know.  [Long pause]  But one of us better learn to read!

***

Cosette:  I'm going to get lots of candy and eat it all up and fill up my tummy.
Me:  Will you share some with me?
Cosette:  No, because I'm sharing it with my little fairies.  [She's referring to her imaginary friends.  This kid has the whole world figured out already.]

***

The girls were sitting across the table from each other. 

Junie:  Stop it, Sissy!  Stop it!   I don't like that!  Stop it!!  Don't!!!
Me:  What is going on?
Junie:  Sissy keeps looking at me like she's a mean hungry wolf.  It's scary and I don't like it.
Cosette:  No I'm not.
Junie:  Yes you are.
Cosette:  No I'm not.
Junie:  Yes you ARE!!!
Me:  Stop arguing.  Don't worry about it.
Cosette: [under hear breath]  I'm a hungry dragon, not a hungry wolf.

Ballet and Bling

Last weekend, Junie went with John to the first kids' ballet of the season, The Steadfast Tin Soldier.  She enjoyed it and loved wearing the fancy dress she'd chosen for the shows this year.  Next month, all four of us are going.  It will be Cosette's first time at a performance in a theater.  We're going to see the Christmas ballet just after Thanksgiving.  Should be fun to see how she reacts! 

The girls have chosen their Halloween costumes.  I hoped to sew them cute costumes this year, but due to my pain I haven't been able to sit at my sewing table long enough to create anything, so we bought their costumes.  Junie is going to be a witch, which she decided upon the day after Halloween last year.  Cosette is going to be a ladybug and we found the cutest, cozy fleece costume for her.  They both tried their costumes on the other day and John and I couldn't believe how cute they looked!  The costumes really suited them.  It was a struggle to find Junie a witch costume that wasn't prostitute-y.  I cannot believe the costumes they market to little girls.  Yikes.  John found one at Target that was appropriate and Junie liked it.  When she tried it on, I realized it was way too low-cut, so I found her a cute Halloween shirt to wear under the costume.  She's very happy that she gets to wear a witch hat to school on Halloween! 

Cosette originally asked me to make her a "Happy Cupcake Witch" costume.  Apparently, she wanted to wear a sparkly dress with cupcakes on it, and a sparkly witch hat with cupcakes on it, but she'd be a HAPPY witch.  I assume this means she didn't want to steal cupcakes, but rather cast spells to MAKE cupcakes for people.  I LOVED this idea, and found an adorable pattern for the dress, but then she changed her mind, which was good because I don't think I feel well enough to sew it anyway.  So she's going to be a ladybug instead, and she loves that her costume has a hood on it! 

Cosette continues to love wearing "jewels," and it's not uncommon for her to wear eight necklaces out in public.  The other day when we dropped off Junie at preschool, Cosette wore a sparkly pumpkin mask she decorated with glitter glue the day before.  One day, John and I were joking about how much Cosette likes "bling."  Now, when she wants to find jewelry to wear, she'll say, "Where's my bling?"  It always cracks us up!  Here she is right before bedtime.  She gets mad that we won't let her sleep in her bling!

My surgery is scheduled for November 7, and Nana (John's s mom) will be coming for a week to help us out.  I'm looking forward to getting the surgery and recovery over with so life can return to a better normal for us. 

Unhappy Firsts

Junie is suffering from her first ear infection of the season.  It's a pretty bad one and she woke up miserable this morning with horribly painful and enlarged glands in her neck.  She keeps saying, "Mama.  It even hurts to walk.  My throat hurts when I walk."  She made the big girl decision all on her own today to stay home from preschool.  She had so many ear infections last year yet she never missed a day of school since she was never contagious.  Same situation with this infection, but she realized she was just too sick to go to school.  So she's dealing with her FIRST ear infection of the season, and her FIRST time ever missing a day of school.  She's not happy about either.  She dictated a cute email to her teacher:

Dear Miss Jill,

I am sick. Dr. Taylor says I have ear infection. My throat hurts when I walk and talk. I got a flu shot and I was brave. I don't want to go to preschool today because I am so sick.

I miss you.

Love,
Junie

Both girls got their flu shots yesterday, and contrary to what Junie says in her note, she was not so brave.  Oddly, they were both hysterical over having to get a shot and I had to chase Junie around the room and pull her out from behind a chair so the nurse could give her the shot.  This has never happened to them before.  Usually, they like getting shots because it's the only time they get lollipops.  I assume their behavior was a combination of sickness/tiredness. 

Also, who looks this good when they're so sick?? 

Hey...did you know you can leave comments on this blog?  You can, and I love getting them so I know someone was here.  You can click on the Name/URL option, but you don't need a URL to enter a comment.  Just your name is fine! 

End of Summer

Junie's back in school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and she loves it.  She takes her role as one of the "big kids" very seriously.  In the days leading up to the start of school, she talked each day about how she was a big kid, so now she could take care of the "babies" (the three-year olds) who were scared about preschool.  She said that she wanted to hold their hands and tell them not to be scared because their mommies would be back to pick them up at lunchtime. 

Last year, Cosette knew Junie went to school, but it didn't bother her.  This year is a whole different story.  She sobbed on the morning of the first day of school because she wanted to go to school, too.  She also kept crying that she'd miss Junie.  Each day now, she fusses when we're getting our shoes on to leave for drop-off.  She says, "I wanna go school too, Mama.  When Junie goes Kindergarten, I go preschool, right?"  Poor kiddo.  During the three hours that Junie is gone, she'll ask me repeatedly, "I miss Junie...where is Junie?"  The way they greet each other at pick-up is so sweet...they run and give long hugs and sweet kisses. 

The girls and I check out so many library books each week...we're up to two huge bags of books at each visit.  Sometimes we do twice a week.  The librarians always laugh when they see how many books we have.  I was ready to do what my mom used to do and bring a huge laundry basket to fill...but then they'll just get even more to fill it up, so that idea is out.  When we stand there checking out our books each visit, they sing "We are book nerds!  We are book nerds!"  And if you mention reading to Junie she says, "I'm a book nerd!"  Cosette uses the statement in all situations.  Each night after she finishes dinner she asks us if she ate well.  When we tell her she did, she throws her arms in the air and says, "Yay!  I eat well!  And we're book nerds!!!!" 

Cosette had her hand surgery on August 9th.  She did great!  We had no issues getting her to keep her bandage on.  She was very protective of her hand, and I just changed the outer wrap once or twice a day (depending on how filthy it got) and the inner bandage once a day.  She had her post-op visit near the end of August, and doctor cleared her to resume life as normal...we went to play in a huge sandbox the very next day!  Now that she has full range of motion in her thumb, she has been LOVING peeling stickers off of sticker sheets and sticking the stickers everywhere.  She couldn't do this with her right hand before, so now that she can do it, it's the first thing she thinks of when she wakes up: "I wanna color and do stickers!!" 

Recent memorable moments from the girls:

Junie:  Cosette, what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?
Cosette:  Dirt!!!  [long pause]  And rocks.  I love rocks and dirt.

***

Mom:  Juniper, why are you naked in the kitchen?
Junie: I had to go potty.
Mom:  Ok, but why are you naked?  In the kitchen?
Junie: I'm a monster and I'm chasing Cosette. 
Mom:  So you have to be naked to be a monster?
Junie:  No.  It's fun to be naked.  Don't worry about it.  Settle down, Mommy.

New Digs

Welcome to the new blog!  We used Totsites for over four years, and decided it was time to move on.  The old Totsites page is no longer available for viewing (or will be removed shortly).  Please follow our family on this new site!  I will link to photo albums on other photo-sharing sites from this point forward.  Please let me know if you have any problems viewing anything.  I welcome any and all suggestions!